Approve Delegate

What Does Approving a Delegate Do?

Approving a delegate allows another address to transfer or burn a limited amount of tokens from a token account on behalf of the token account owner.

A token account stores one current delegate and one delegated amount at a time. Approving a new delegate replaces the previous delegate and allowance on the account.

How to Approve a Delegate

Approving a delegate uses the Token Program's Approve or ApproveChecked instruction.

The examples below use ApproveChecked, which requires the caller to provide the mint and decimals so the instruction can verify the expected mint and token precision before processing the approval.

The token account owner signs the approval.

Source Reference

ItemDescriptionToken ProgramToken Extension Program
AccountThe token account state stores the owner, delegate, and delegated amount.SourceSource
ApproveA delegate-approval instruction that records the delegate and allowance for a token account without requiring the caller to provide the mint or decimals.SourceSource
ApproveCheckedA delegate-approval instruction that requires the caller to provide the mint and decimals and checks those values before recording the delegate and allowance.SourceSource
process_approveShared processor logic for delegate approval.SourceSource

Typescript

The Kit examples below show the recommended approach using @solana/kit. Legacy examples using @solana/web3.js are included for reference.

Kit

import { generateKeyPairSigner } from "@solana/kit";
import { createLocalClient } from "@solana/kit-client-rpc";
import {
findAssociatedTokenPda,
tokenProgram,
TOKEN_PROGRAM_ADDRESS
} from "@solana-program/token";
const client = await createLocalClient()
.use(tokenProgram());
const mint = await generateKeyPairSigner();
const delegate = await generateKeyPairSigner();
const [tokenAccount] = await findAssociatedTokenPda({
mint: mint.address,
owner: client.payer.address,
tokenProgram: TOKEN_PROGRAM_ADDRESS
});
const result = await client.token.instructions
.approveChecked({
source: tokenAccount, // Token account whose delegate approval changes.
mint: mint.address, // Mint for the token the delegate may spend.
delegate: delegate.address, // Delegate allowed to spend from the token account.
owner: client.payer, // Owner approving this delegate change.
amount: 25n, // Token amount in base units.
decimals: 2 // Decimals defined on the mint account.
})
.sendTransaction();
const tokenAccountData = await client.token.accounts.token.fetch(tokenAccount);
console.log("Mint Address:", mint.address);
console.log("\nToken Account Address:", tokenAccount);
console.log("Token Account:", tokenAccountData.data);
console.log("\nDelegate Address:", delegate.address);
console.log("\nTransaction Signature:", result.context.signature);
Console
Click to execute the code.

Web3.js

import { Connection, Keypair, LAMPORTS_PER_SOL } from "@solana/web3.js";
import {
createAssociatedTokenAccount,
approveChecked,
createMint,
getAccount,
mintToChecked,
TOKEN_PROGRAM_ID
} from "@solana/spl-token";
const result = await approveChecked(
connection, // Connection to the local validator.
feePayer, // Account paying transaction fees.
mintPubkey, // Mint for the token the delegate may spend.
associatedTokenAccount, // Token account whose delegate approval changes.
delegate.publicKey, // Delegate allowed to spend from the token account.
feePayer, // Owner approving this delegate change.
25, // Token amount in base units.
2, // Decimals defined on the mint account.
[], // Additional multisig signers.
{
commitment: "confirmed" // Confirmation options for the transaction.
},
TOKEN_PROGRAM_ID // Token program to invoke.
);
const tokenAccountData = await getAccount(
connection,
associatedTokenAccount,
"confirmed",
TOKEN_PROGRAM_ID
);
console.log("Mint Address:", mintPubkey.toBase58());
console.log(
"\nAssociated Token Account Address:",
associatedTokenAccount.toBase58()
);
console.log("Associated Token Account:", tokenAccountData);
console.log("\nDelegate Address:", delegate.publicKey.toBase58());
console.log("\nTransaction Signature:", result);
Console
Click to execute the code.

Rust

Rust
use anyhow::Result;
use solana_client::nonblocking::rpc_client::RpcClient;
use solana_commitment_config::CommitmentConfig;
use solana_sdk::{
program_pack::Pack,
signature::{Keypair, Signer},
transaction::Transaction,
};
use solana_system_interface::instruction::create_account;
use spl_associated_token_account_interface::{
address::get_associated_token_address, instruction::create_associated_token_account,
};
use spl_token_interface::{
id as token_program_id,
instruction::{approve_checked, initialize_mint, mint_to_checked},
state::{Account, Mint},
};
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<()> {
let client = RpcClient::new_with_commitment(
String::from("http://localhost:8899"),
CommitmentConfig::confirmed(),
);
let delegate = Keypair::new();
let approve_amount = 25;
let transaction = Transaction::new_signed_with_payer(
&[
approve_checked(
&token_program_id(), // Token program to invoke.
&associated_token_address, // Token account whose delegate approval changes.
&mint.pubkey(), // Mint for the token the delegate may spend.
&delegate.pubkey(), // Delegate allowed to spend from the token account.
&fee_payer.pubkey(), // Owner approving this delegate change.
&[], // Additional multisig signers.
approve_amount, // Token amount in base units.
decimals, // Decimals defined on the mint account.
)?,
],
Some(&fee_payer.pubkey()),
&[&fee_payer],
latest_blockhash,
);
let transaction_signature = client.send_and_confirm_transaction(&transaction).await?;
let token_account = client.get_account(&associated_token_address).await?;
let token_data = Account::unpack(&token_account.data)?;
println!("Mint Address: {}", mint.pubkey());
println!(
"\nAssociated Token Account Address: {}",
associated_token_address
);
println!("Associated Token Account: {:#?}", token_data);
println!("\nDelegate Address: {}", delegate.pubkey());
println!("\nTransaction Signature: {}", transaction_signature);
Ok(())
}
Console
Click to execute the code.

Python

Python
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import asyncio
import json
from solana.rpc.async_api import AsyncClient
from solders.keypair import Keypair
from solders.message import Message
from solders.pubkey import Pubkey
from solders.system_program import create_account, CreateAccountParams
from solders.transaction import Transaction
from spl.token.async_client import AsyncToken
from spl.token.instructions import (
approve_checked,
ApproveCheckedParams,
create_associated_token_account,
get_associated_token_address,
initialize_mint,
InitializeMintParams,
mint_to_checked,
MintToCheckedParams,
)
from spl.token.constants import MINT_LEN, TOKEN_PROGRAM_ID
DECIMALS = 2
AMOUNT_TO_MINT = 100
AMOUNT_TO_APPROVE = 25
async def main():
rpc = AsyncClient("http://localhost:8899")
delegate = Keypair()
async with rpc:
approve_delegate_instruction = approve_checked(
ApproveCheckedParams(
program_id=TOKEN_PROGRAM_ID, # Token program to invoke.
source=token_account_address, # Token account whose delegate approval changes.
mint=mint.pubkey(), # Mint for the token the delegate may spend.
delegate=delegate.pubkey(), # Account allowed to spend from the token account.
owner=fee_payer.pubkey(), # Account that owns the token account.
amount=AMOUNT_TO_APPROVE, # Token amount in base units.
decimals=DECIMALS, # Decimals defined on the mint account.
)
)
latest_blockhash = await rpc.get_latest_blockhash()
transaction = Transaction(
[fee_payer],
Message([approve_delegate_instruction], fee_payer.pubkey()),
latest_blockhash.value.blockhash,
)
result = await rpc.send_transaction(transaction)
token_account_info = await token.get_account_info(token_account_address)
token_account = {
key: str(value) if isinstance(value, Pubkey) else value
for key, value in token_account_info._asdict().items()
}
print("Mint Address:", mint.pubkey())
print("\nToken Account Address:", token_account_address)
print("Token Account:")
print(json.dumps(token_account, indent=2))
print("\nDelegate Address:", delegate.pubkey())
print("\nTransaction Signature:", result.value)
if __name__ == "__main__":
asyncio.run(main())
Console
Click to execute the code.

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